Bengaluru engineering students bag prize for designing slide system to evacuate bus passengers during emergencies

Bengaluru engineering students bag prize for designing slide system to evacuate bus passengers during emergencies

All of us remember the bus fire accidents that took place near Mahabubnagar in Andhra Pradesh and near Haveri in Karnataka not long ago. Unable to escape from the raging fire, over 50 passengers lost their lives.

These tragic incidents led two engineering students from Bengaluru to develop a concept to save the lives of passengers in the event of a bus catching fire.

Preetham Kumar H., a student of Atria Institute of Technology, and Nikhil M., a student of Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, have come up with an economical and efficient evacuation slide system to evacuate passengers, especially the old and the physically-challenged, faster and safer during emergencies.

Preetham and Nikhil, with their concept titled ‘Evacuation slides for heavy passenger vehicles during fire and accidents’, participated in the student poster presentation competition at the 14th Symposium on International Automotive Technology (SIAT 2015) organised by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) in Pune, Maharashtra, from January 21 to 24. The event saw the participation of vehicle manufacturers from China, U.S., Japan, Germany, South Korea and India.

The city students’ concept bagged the third prize and Preetham and Nikhil received the prize from Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari. “Our concept was appreciated by academicians and representatives of world-class automobile manufacturers. They said it was unique, useful and innovative,” said Preetham.

Three features

Nikhil explained that their concept had mainly three features. A wide slide is provided on the right side of hi-tech buses in which three passengers can easily slide at a time. A roof opening flushes out the smoke compressed in the bus during fire accidents. The suffocation caused by fire and fumes will be dangerous and fatal. There is also an efficient fire extinguishing facility.

“Our concept, though futuristic, can also be implemented in already running buses,” Preetham said.

Both said that they gained knowledge at the event by interacting with visitors, academicians, representatives from vehicle manufacturers from India and abroad, and also research students. “Such exposure is very important for engineering students,” added Nikhil.

http://www.thehindu.com/features/education/college-and-university/thumbs-up-for-a-safety-concept/article6869253.ece